Advice on new locks please?

[kookychick]

My 1981 1.9 Caravelle is a bit funny when it comes to keys and locks. None of them work very well, and even now I have learned the knack, sometimes it can take quite a few minute to tease the tailgate, the side door or even the ignition lock into action.

And now the cylinder / barrel on my drivers side is completely loose… looks like someone's bashed the whole handle trying to break in.
So maybe its time to get a new set of locks.

Does anyone know how to do this so I only have one key for the whole lot? I can find lock cylinders, but as far as I can tell, all the doors will end up with different keys !

any advice appreciated - Thanks

[CJH]

Do all your locks use the same key at the moment? It IS possible to re-key a lock, but it's a bit fiddly and you need a selection of spare tumblers. And you can't do this to the ignition barrel as far as I'm aware. If everything works from the same key at the moment, your best bet is probably to remove each one and give it a good clean. They're probably cacked up with dried grease and dirt - give them a clean out in paraffin and then use some graphite lubricant.

If your ignition barrel is also a bit tricky, it's possible that your key is a bit worn, so maybe a new key will help. If you just get it cut as a copy of the worn original there's no guarantee it'll be any better. Dan Simpson on here cuts them from the key code - he cut me a couple from the code as a fresh start (and I then re-keyed my sliding door barrel to match) - there's a thread on here that goes through the process of getting the key code.